A group of survivors of the 2012 shooting massacre at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., have been ordered to pay nearly $700,000 to the owners of the theater after both state and federal courts ruled the cinema chain was not liable for the horrific crime.

Cinemark, which owned the Century Aurora movieplex where James Holmes opened fire and killed 12 people and wounded 70 others, was sued in Colorado state court as well as federal court by two different groups of survivors of the massacre. Both suits had alleged that Cinemark’s lax security practices at the theater made the attack possible.

Cinemark had argued the attack was “an unforeseeable act of singular malice” and that no extra security measures would have prevented the attack.

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After a four-year court battle, a jury in the state case ruled in May that Cinemark was not liable for the shootings. Under Colorado law, the winning side in a civil case is entitled to recover its legal costs, which Cinemark cited as approximately $700,000 for the state case.

Last week, a federal judge also ruled in favor of Cinemark, meaning the plaintiffs in that case were also liable for paying the theater chain’s court costs, which have not yet been revealed for the federal case.

But under terms of a settlement released earlier this week, Cinemark says it will not pursue collecting those costs if the plaintiffs drop plans to appeal the court rulings. So far, all but eight of the 39 plaintiffs (four in the state case and four in the federal case) have agreed to drop their appeals.

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Once the state verdict was reached, the judge overseeing the federal case reportedly tried to get the parties to reach a financial settlement. According to the Los Angeles Times, a $150,000 settlement had been verbally agreed upon by the plaintiffs and Cinemark.

“We all knew they were liable. We knew they were at fault,” plaintiff Marcus Weaver, who was wounded in the shooting, told the Times. “[The settlement] was a slap in the face. But I said, ‘Let’s go for it because it’s better than nothing.’”

However, before the agreement could be signed the next day, one of the survivors changed her mind and rejected the offer, thereby negating the terms of the settlement.

The remaining survivors decided to move forward with their case, knowing they could be held responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars in court fees amassed by Cinemark.

With the state case already having been decided in Cinemark’s favor, the federal judge ruled for the theater owner as well. As a result, the plaintiffs would not only receive no financial compensation, they were on the hook for Cinemark’s legal costs.

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Cinemark has not yet issued a public statement about the settlement.

Those plaintiffs who have not yet waived their rights to file appeals have 14 days to determine if they are going to go forward with an appeal. Doing so means they could still be on the hook for paying Cinemark’s legal bills in the state and federal suits.

Scott Kelnhofer is a writer for The Western Journal and Conservative Tribune. A native of Milwaukee, he currently resides in Phoenix.

Scott Kelnhofer is a writer for The Western Journal and Conservative Tribune. He has more than 20 years of experience in print and broadcast journalism. A native of Milwaukee, he has resided in Phoenix since 2012.